Friday's Daily Pulse

What you need to know about Florida today

| 4/21/2017

Florida commercial real estate development and employment booming

The National Association of Industrial and Office Parks ranked Florida among the top five states in the nation for commercial real estate industry spending impact and the number of jobs the industry sustains. The total impact — combining hard costs for materials, site selection and development and soft costs such as design fees — in Florida totaled $7.6 billion last year. Direct spending on commercial real estate in Florida was topped only by New York, at $24.8 billion; Texas, with $18.5 billion; California, at $14.3 billion; and Louisiana, with $9.9 billion, according to NAIOP’s latest “Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate.” Read more at the Business Observer and the Jacksonville Business Journal.

The Florida Supreme Court is signing off on a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voter approval for new casinos. A divided court ruled 4-2 on Thursday that the amendment was not misleading and sticks to one subject. [Source: AP]

Florida residents pay 6th lowest state taxes

Florida residents have the sixth lowest state tax burden in the U.S., according to a recent WalletHub report. Florida TaxWatch president and chief executive officer Dominic M. Calabro said the low tax burden is a plus for Florida families and businesses. [Source: Florida Watchdog]

Trump spends too much time at Mar-a-Lago, voters say

President Donald Trump spends too much time at properties owned by his company, including Mar-a-Lago, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Fifty-five percent of voters in the national survey had that opinion vs. 34 percent who did not. From the poll:

Trump spends too much time at properties owned by his company, voters say 55 - 34 percent. He does not spend enough time at the White House, 50 percent of voters say, while 2 percent say he spends too much time and 38 percent say he spends the right amount of time.

It will be 2019 before Florida holds another bear hunt. That’s how the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted Wednesday. The state agency agreed instead to re-examine the state’s bear management plan over the next two years. [Source: WLRN]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Florida cruise bookings swell 20 percent[Orlando Business Journal] Cruise ships are a familiar sight at Port Canaveral, looming on the horizon low and large as you cross over the Banana River. Expect to see more, because it’s already been a good year for Florida’s cruise industry.